Joe offers smart advice on how small- and mid-size nonprofits should pitch cause marketing relationships to small- and mid-sized businesses.

Two of his observations:

"As a mid-size nonprofit working with similar sized businesses on cause marketing programs I always get questions on how cause marketing will impact the bottom-line. I find that larger businesses are less concerned with cause marketing being a sales driver and can afford to lump it under the do-nothing moniker of "branding." But not so with small business owners. Every dollar spent has to drive sales and grow the business."

Indeed, that’s why Joe prefers to call cause marketing "selfish giving." He adds:

"Unlike the media salesman that wants you to write a check for another flight of ads, the cause marketer wants access to something that you (the business) value but costs you nothing to deliver: your customers."

Here are the questions Joe answers …

• Will my participation in a cause marketing program boost sales?
• How does the costs of cause marketing compare to other types of media (e.g. radio, TV, print, billboard, etc.) I invest in?
• How is cause marketing different from the other ways I invest my time and money to promote my business?
• If I run a point-of-sale program, how do I handle customer questions on how much my business is donating?
• Don’t customers find these programs a hassle and would rather not be bothered?
• If I do this for you every charity in the City will be hitting me up to do something similar or to give them money. Won’t I have a gigantic bulls eye on my business?
• When I die and go to hell, can I use my cause marketing efforts as "Get out of hell" free card?

Good questions … practical advice. Joe, you deserve a raise!

Tom

Except for this bright spot …

"With the exception of direct mail, fund raisers say that all types of appeals were doing less well in the past six months than they had expected when the year started."

Of course, this could just mean that fundraisers low-balled their direct mail projections so much that any returns look terrific! But I doubt that’s the explanation.

As Roger has commented, advocacy groups in particular have bucked falling donor acquisition and retention trends. A simple case of passion prevailing in that sector?

But the fundraisers in the Indiana survey presumably cover a wide spectrum of the nonprofit community.

Is your direct mail performing better, worse or the same as you expected back in January? If better, take credit … you deserve a raise! If worse, do you blame it on the economy?

Tom

A threat compounded by data indicating further fall-off in new donor acquisition and retention rates throughout much of the charitable community, as fellow Agitator Roger has commented on. Roger concluded his assessment with this recommendation:

"Now’s the time to take another look at next year’s budget and make sure you’re spending more, not less, to achieve on donor satisfaction and loyalty to hold on to your base."

Now, "hold on to your base" can mean a lot of things, from programmatic strategies to emphasize the work and activities you know (because you’ve done the donor research) brought your core donors in; to fine-tuning member/donor communications to report and celebrate results, results, results … and how your donors made those possible; to ensuring that in-bound member/donor inquiries are effectively handled; to tactical adjustments to donor renewal campaigns (the copy, the contact scheme, etc.).

All of these are important and can make a big difference. And because renewals are the most profitable fundraising activity you undertake, from your biggest donor to the rank-and-file, any retention improvements you achieve will yield significant net revenue.

Maybe you don’t control every aspect of the programmatic and marketing mix that can combine to strengthen donor retention. Perhaps as a fundraiser you "merely" control the nuts & bolts of the renewal process. Even so, now’s the time to show folks just how critical smart execution can be to the bottomline.

Start by taking a really careful look at your renewal program … everything from copy to the number, nature and timing of renewal contacts. Larger organizations tend to test each element of their renewal efforts very carefully, as they should … judiciously fine-tuning complex programs on an ongoing basis. Smaller organizations might be quite disorganized and even desultory in their approach, not even having what I’d call a renewal program … instead virtually "cut & pasting" stale year-end or annual appeals.

But the dropping renewal rates in the community — and the reality that donors will husband their charitable resources during stressful economic times — suggest that there should be no higher priority than fresh examination of renewal programs. Nothing should be taken for granted.

When "the boss" asks what should be done to protect revenue over the coming year, were I you, I’d say: "Bust our chops to improve renewal rates!" Then I’d add: "And get the rest of the organization focused on that goal too."

Sound simple, or obvious? Try it!

Tom

Their report, available here if you register, is an interesting read … and lots of response data to benchmark your noprofit against.

What struck me was te relatively low scores nonprofits give to their own effort to measure marketing success.

Here are the mean scores for some basic marketing activities/metrics:
(where 4 = Very Effective represents the highest score, and the percentage indicates the percent who don’t measure that activity/metric)

• Revenue - 3.0, 4% (who could NOT measure their revenue?!)
• Increase in number of members - 2.8, 8%
• Unique visitors to website - 2.7, 19% (another Wow!)
• Repeat visitors to website - 2.6, 23%
• Member loyalty/satisfaction - 2.6, 12%
• Earned media - 2.5, 26%
• PR effectiveness - 2.4, 23%
• Specific marketing campaign effectiveness - 2.4, 20% (if not measuring, then why bother?)
• Brand awareness - 2.3, 26%
• Print advertising - 2.2, 28%
• Search engine optimization - 2.2, 28%

All in all, not exactly a rousing set of ratings!

Tom

But if you must plow down this path, definitely read the Getting Attention Tagline Report prepared by Nancy Schwartz. If you’re not contemplating it now, save this report for that fearsome occasion.

You’ll get excellent analysis of scores of existing nonprofit taglines … which ones work and which ones don’t … and why. And clear direction as to how to approach the task and what pitfalls to avoid if you’re planning a change.

Well done, Nancy. You deserve a raise!

Tom

To follow what’s happening with online video in the commercial marketing world, and get plenty of stimulating food for thought, make sure you sign up to get Ad Age’s regular new web video report. Great stuff!

Like Zaproot, styled as "Green Reports, With Bite" — a sassy online video news service covering environmental issues. Love it! Betcha can’t stop watching … if you’re an enviro.

Tom

Even the term scares me! But in essence … how does Google (most importantly) find your website’s most precious content? Another way of putting it … if Google can’t find you (your web content, that is), do you exist?!

Denny’s advice: don’t leave SEO to amateurs … it’s too complex, too fast-changing, and too critical to your online success.

If you get professional advice on mailing list selection, then you’re probably operating at a level where you should get expert help on SEO … in both direct mail and online media, it all starts with understanding your audience. But executing against that knowledge is considerably more technically complex in the internet universe.

Frankly, I’m counting on Roger to "get" this for The Agitator!

Tom

But you must read by July 15!

142 million American internet users watched on average 85 videos in the month … that’s 74% of all US internet users. The average video was 2.7 miinutes. YouTube accounted for 34% of all views.

Is your nonprofit there yet?!

Tom

I went from this Seth Godin post, to this Doshdosh post, to this essay.

Skip right to the essay for some great advice on how to sharpen your writing.

Preview of top three tips …

• Avoid the obvious content.
• Take the less usual side.
• Slip out of abstraction.

Enjoyable reading … unless you’re already in Ernest Hemingway’s league.

Tom

This morning our friend and long-time colleague Polly Agee, 61, will be buried in the National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia

Personally we mourn her death (and have had quite a good wake telling “Polly stories”), but we most of all want to note her passing because she contributed so much to the small, but critically important and uniquely back-biting branch of American fundraising focused on social and political change. A contribution for which all fundraisers, regardless of politics or discipline, should be grateful

For nearly 10 years in the early days (‘70s) of the liberal advocacy movement through the late 80’s Polly was in the foxhole with us. Developing systems that are still used to this day…developing training systems still used to this day…and developing an intolerance for the mediocre that seem to have been all too recently forgotten.

As the Senior Vice President of Craver, Mathews, Smith & Company, Polly helped us launch and build many of the liberal advocacy organizations that are household names today. The National Organization for Women, National Abortion Rights Action League, Greenpeace, The Cousteau Society, and Common Cause. While at CMS she worked on dozens of United States Senate campaigns for Democratic candidates and the presidential campaigns of Morris Udall, Edward Kennedy and John Anderson. Not to mention the Democratic National Committee, The Democratic Senatorial Committee and the Democratic Congressional Committee.

Never one to suffer fools lightly Polly had a temper, but one tempered by an iron-willed discipline to get the most out of every opportunity and every person she came in contact with. And she succeeded. Today, there is a generation of seasoned direct response fundraisers in the advocacy and political arenas that are tougher and wiser because of Polly.

Polly “retired” ( her own words) in the early ‘90s. AND… then went on to start several new careers. Her energy went toward women’s equality and democracy. As Ellen Malcolm, the founder of Emily’s List puts it:

"She always had infectious enthusiasm for women candidates and so many progressive causes. And if there was ever a set-back or special challenge, Polly was ready to give a helping hand. So many of the elected Democratic women we see in public life benefited from Polly’s generosity and help.”

She trained a generation of fundraisers, but wasn’t one bit willing to stop there.

In her final years she went into life coaching and established New Directions Life Coaching which helped, trained, and mentored many.

When a pioneer dies we all should pay attention — and also pay homage.

Polly, honest to God, we’re paying attention. Don’t get mad. We’re just saying “Thank You!”

Roger and Tom

P. S. A memorial service for Polly will be held in early August. We’ll keep you posted as to dates and times.